Theoretical Theories Of Youth

Rosynmayr (1972: 227-228), in his paper "New Theoretical Approaches to the Sociological Study of Young People", puts forward five conceptual approaches that could serve in grasping youth as:
(i) Youth as a "phase in the individual life cycle," defined in biological terms or with strict reference to age.
(ii) Youth as a "social subset" characterized by empirically frequent forms of behaviour in a roughly determined age range.
(iii) Youth as an "incomplete status," evidenced by the existence of an individual, social and economic limitations to which grown-up is not a subject.
(iv) Youth as "a socially structured generation-unit," exposed to common conditions and experiences and generating common activities.
(v) Youth as "an ideal value concept," expressed primarily in mental alertness, a forward-looking outlook, etc, or what subsumed under the expression `youthfulness '.
These descriptions are indeed useful for the conceptual apprehension of youth as a construct. However, for purposes of empirical studies, these would need to be further operationalised and contextualised. For precise measurement in empirical studies, chronological age is most often used as the precise measure of youth, as for instance those conducted by the United Nations and its allied agencies.

I.2.2. Theories of Youth work

Theories of youth work were still one of the less developed fields of social work. Commonwealth defined youth work as development and ensuring of young people to fulfil their potential